Summertime
by Lupus Silvae
Summary: A secret vacation that starts at sunrise... and Sonic's dragging Amy along for the ride. Inspired by the song "Redneck Yacht Club" by Craig Morgan, and too much wistful reminiscing on summer days long past. Minor SonAmy. One-shot.


"Where on earth are we going?!" cried Amy, laughing quietly as she was pulled along in the early dawn air. The sky wasn't even blue yet, but was instead a pale pinkish grey. Sonic had arrived at her house at four in the morning, when the sky was still dark indigo and stars were blinking peacefully above. After a few confused and hazy minutes spent trying to wake up, the two were racing out in the early morning, mid-July air.

The only thing Amy knew about their location was that they would spend the entire day there, and they were toting a crazy amount of things with them. Yet Sonic still insisted they run. _He would. _"Sonic, seriously! Where are we going?!"

The azure hedgehog glanced over his shoulder and grinned. "You'll see in a couple minutes. Can you wait that long?"

"Yes, but my legs can't run for that long! I'm not you, last I checked!" she snapped playfully.

Sonic laughed and, with a simple jerk of his hand, had her riding on his back, barely avoiding his spines. "You could warn me, you know!" Amy yelped.

"Where's the fun in that?" Chuckling to himself, Sonic sped up, and they soon reached a wall of willow branches. Sonic gently let Amy down before signaling her to stay. "Wait one second, alright?"

"I'm counting." In a flash, he was gone, and about a minute passed before he returned. "You took sixty. Penalties."

Sonic sighed and smirked. "You ready?"

"You woke me up at four in the morning. Of course not. But I guess I can be."

"Good. You have to swear on your life you won't tell anyone about this place, alright?"

"…alright…"

With a grin, Sonic led her over to the willows, and pushed them to the side. Through the parted branches was a crystal clear lake with about four houseboats and an even larger boat with almost a score of anthros on each one. The sun was just beginning to rise on the other side of the water, casting the entire area in a soft glow. Each boat's anchor was impatiently awaiting their rise, the boats ready to take out into the center of the humongous span of water. The lake was so large, you couldn't see the other side, and it was completely empty of anyone but the ones on the boats.

"How… how on earth?"

Sonic laughed and walked her over to a quickly-made dock. "Welcome to The Cove, affectionately named by our captain."

"Captain?"

The dark shadow of an echidna was cast down on Amy, and she glanced up to see a grinning Knuckles on the largest of the boats. He waved down, then motioned for the two to come up. "Hurry, you two! Anchors aweigh in five minutes!"

"Knux?"

Sonic snickered. "Yeah. He founded this place, not too many summers ago. They come out here every July, once a week."

"They? What about you?" inquired Amy.

Sonic shuddered. "I hate water. You know that."

"Then why are we here?"

"Because… you like it. And hey, who said I had to get in, right?"

"Come _on_ slowpokes, or we'll leave you!" shouted Knuckles, impatiently glaring at the two.

Sonic smirked and grabbed Amy again. He was up on the deck, staring the echidna in the eye within seconds. "Who're you calling a slowpoke, Red?"

Knuckles scowled playfully. "Don't call me Red, and I won't call you a slowpoke."

"Sure, Red."

With a sigh, the echidna shook his head. Then he grabbed a flare gun, firing it and nearly losing his balance with the force of it. Cries and yells of supreme joy arose from all five boats, all saying one thing: "Anchors aweigh!"

Simultaneously, they began their trek towards the center of the lake. Cheers continued to ring through the air, and Amy couldn't help but laugh at the unbelievable situation she had found herself in. Sonic was laughing as well, but managed to calm down enough to help set up the boats. They helped a young female raccoon unfold at least thirty lawn chairs and a cat firmly plant down a few tiki-torches before being called over by Tails.

"I didn't know you two were here!" he chortled, noticing Sonic's uneasiness at being surrounded by water. "Especially you. But, since you are, help me tie the boat."

"Tie it?" asked Amy.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you. After we anchor in the middle of the lake, we tie all the boats together, to make it easy to switch between them. Red's boat is generally always in the middle," explained Sonic.

"Yep. And it is today. So get helping," snapped Tails playfully. "And I wouldn't let Knuckles hear you using that nickname around him. He's touchy about it."

"Yeah, well, he deserves it." Sonic left with Tails to help with one side of the boat, while Knuckles took Amy to the other. A large marina rope was thrown over to them, and with a little struggle, both teams managed to tie it to the post on top of the deck. A homemade rope ladder was thrown down both sides of Knux's boat, its height preventing jumping from ship to ship.

By the time everything was said and done, it was already seven, the sky was bright blue and dotted with white, fluffy clouds. The temperature was already beginning to get uncomfortable, especially since everyone outside had fur. Amy, Sonic, Tails, and Knux rejoined at the center of the main ship at Tails' request. "Alright, I want to make one thing clear: if we're out here all day, that means we'll be in the sun. Knuckles' ship has indoor space, so make sure you spend some time there, too. Just because we have fur doesn't mean we can't get sunburn."

"Sure, Tails."

"I'm serious, Sonic. You'll regret it if you spend all day outside. We can't exactly wear sunscreen."

"True. Thanks, Tails. Anything else we should know?" inquired Amy.

Tails chuckled at the two. "Yes. Swimming's fine, but you have to use the rope ladder at the edge of one of the outer boats to get back up. Keep that in mind when you're out there. Don't jump off in the middle, or you'll be stuck having to get around to the side."

"Alright. I don't think Sonic has much to worry about, but I might. See you 'round, Tails!"

Sonic and Amy walked towards the ship to the left of them, and soon began to waste away the hours exploring the other boats and their passengers. Blaring from the speakers on Knux's ship was summertime country music, inspiring and spirit-lifting to anyone on the string of boats. The boat they went on first had numerous fishing poles off the ends, and the anthros holding them were almost all cats, with a few raccoons and a fox or two tagging along.

The next boat was mainly happy swimmers, all jumping off the boat, climbing back up, and jumping off again. It was this boat Sonic insisted they leave the quickest. On the opposite side was a slow-moving ship with tired anthros far too unused to waking up so early. The outer boat on the right was one used for the wake boarding, and while Sonic still wanted to leave the edge, he did settle for watching from the deck while Tails and Amy shot around the lake. The small wake jet forced white capped waves to slam against the boat, and while not large enough to even shake it, they still made Sonic shudder.

So went the morning, switching boats and exploring on a whim. Around noontime, all the anthros crammed themselves onto Knux's boat for the afternoon meal. Everything had been pre-made the day before, and it was all cold. Sandwiches, chips, sodas, and fruits were all available. When they got their food, they returned to their "base ship", or the one they rode on to get to the center of the lake.

Sitting together were the four friends, leaning back in sun-warmed lawn chairs and trying not to burn themselves on the hot metal armrests. Everyone took their own sweet time eating, not rushing to get back anywhere. Sonic sighed, placed his hands behind his head, and dozed lightly while Knuckles, Tails, and Amy went swimming. They figured it was their only chance.

Inner tubes were thrown into the lake and towed around by the wake jets, causing females to squeal with fake fear and males to laugh at their girlfriends' plights. It was when Amy was driving the wake jet and Knuckles was riding the inner tube that the true yelping and squealing was revealed. Not that it was uncalled for, considering Amy's close-calls and near run-ins with the ships and other wake jets.

Dizzily, the echidna was flown up quite humorously by Tails and sent inside to rest a bit. The fox noted Sonic was still dozing, and he gently tapped the hedgehog on the shoulder. "Have you been inside at all? It's the heat of the day, and your fur is a pretty dark color. You might want to."

Sonic opened one eye and glanced briefly at Tails before mumbling "sure" and going back to sleep. Tails grinned and shook his head.

"You'll regret that later, Sonikku," he chortled in a sing-song voice. With the other two sleeping, Tails and Amy decided to try their hands at fishing with the cats. A large brown male grinned when they approached.

"Hey! Aren't you Tails? And Amy?"

"Yeah," laughed Tails. "But I'm afraid I don't know you."

"Ah. I'm Bob. The name's lame, but I'm used to it. I see you failed to bring any fishing supplies."

Amy chuckled nervously. "Yes… We were hoping we could borrow someone's."

Bob grinned. "You can use mine! We're fryin' fish for supper tonight, so any fresh fishers are welcome."

"Thanks!" exclaimed Tails. "Anything we should know?"

Bob shook his head. "Nope. Just cast, and reel it in, then repea-- _Yowch!"_

Stuck in the cat's left ear was a sharp hook, connecting eventually back to a blushing pink hedgehog. "Aheh… sorry…"

Wincing, Bob chuckled. "Uh… it's fine… how about you watch?"

The fishing went splendidly, with Tails catching a large bass and Bob a few catfish. The irony of Bob's catch did not go unnoted by Amy, who was still denied a retry after Tails fixed Bob's ear. By the time they were done, it was seven in the evening, and the smell of fresh fish being fried, grilled, and broiled filled the air. The simple smell of food instantly awoke Sonic and Knuckles.

A little too eagerly, the two helped with the preparations, and supper was served by eight. This meal was eaten even slower than the last, as everyone realized it wasn't too long after this that it would be time to head home. Bob sat with Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, and Amy, and had the pleasure of telling fish whoppers to the group. Right after sunset, the cat from before lit all the tiki torches, and before Sonic could protest, had the entire string of boats demanding he play the old guitar from Knux's ship.

"Alright, guys, really… I haven't played in a while…"

"Liar. You played just last week," snapped Amy jokingly.

"Well… the guitar's out of tune, I bet."

Tails laughed. "Sorry, Sonic, can't get out that way. I tuned it while you were asleep."

"So you planned on having me play but didn't bother to tell me?"

"Sure looks like it, doesn't it, slowpoke?" chortled Knuckles, elbowing the hedgehog.

"Red… don't push me."

"Please?" Sonic glanced over at Amy, who was using a tried-and-true puppy face that pretty much got her anything she wanted. He gazed into her aquamarine eyes, which were dancing with mischief, and he knew he had to be blushing.

"Uh… o-okay." Cheers erupted from all five ships, and while Knuckles fetched the guitar, everyone squished onto the main boat for the third time. Sonic played a few chords and was somewhat disappointed to find it was perfectly tuned. "Um… what should I play?"

"'It's Your Love'," chirped a young raccoon. "The one by that Tim guy!"

Sonic laughed a bit. "How do you know I know it?"

"You're Sonic. Of course you know it!" he cried, as if shocked the hedgehog would ask.

"Well, lucky for you, I do know it," chortled Sonic. And so he began, quietly strumming the old strings and gently humming the tune. Amy, who had heard the song played enough and memorized the lyrics, began singing. At first, the angelic voice threw Sonic off beat, but he caught back up, and soon the entire group of one hundred or so anthros were singing.

No one wanted the moment to end, and the song was replayed almost five times, each round a few voices dropping from the chorus. The final time around, only Sonic and Amy were left singing. And then, the last few words, Sonic stopped and allowed Amy to finish it off. When the note ended, it was as if everyone was in a trance. Slowly, one by one, they returned to their base ships.

Ropes were pulled up, untied, and put away. Anchors were risen and the boats slowly began to return to The Cove. During this time, everything was taken down and folded away, personal belongings were collected, and tired young ones collapsed on the few leftover chairs. Sonic stood at the bow of Knux's ship, leaning against the rail and watching the stars. Amy stood beside him, but she wasn't looking at stars.

"You played really well tonight," she murmured, quickly looking at the sky before he noticed.

"Yeah, well… it wasn't much."

"Thanks for bringing me."

Sonic smiled and looked directly at her, their eyes meeting each other's soft gaze. "You're welcome."

Tails walked up to the two, yawning but smirking. "Hey, Sonic?"

Sonic glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

Tails slapped Sonic's back in what seemed like a friendly fashion, avoiding the backspines. Even if he had hit them, his cry would've been nothing compared to the yelp that came from Sonic. Both Tails and Amy laughed uproariously, receiving a heated glare from the azure hedgehog. "I warned you," gasped Tails, barely able to breathe through his raucous laughter. "So it's your fault. Have fun with your sunburn!"


End file.
